Conservapedia grabbed my attention after it was given some coverage online in GuardianUnlimited.
In general, it’s a pretty muddle-headed idea.
‘Conservapedia’ scores a pretty spectacular own goal in the justification for its existence, namely that Wikipedia is run by a censorious cabal of loony liberalistas and thus a new direction is needed… enter Conservapedia. Unfortunately, by wielding a pretty hefty black marker themselves, actively proclaiming a political bias in their very name and arguing, among other things, that dinosaurs are only 6,000 years old they make whatever good points they had pretty redundant.
Wikipedia is a great resource. Its whole premise is openness and democratic editing. If some disgruntled neocons were angry about wiki’s coverage then they should have edited it online – or tried to.
I’m willing to accept that wikipedia may have a built in ‘liberal bias’ – I do so because…
1. The idea of a democratically edited encyclopedia, open to interpretation by all is a pretty ‘liberal’ approach to information by definition.
2. Most of the wiki editors are clued up amateurs who spend a lot of time online – their demographic isn’t exactly republican/conservative.
No matter what your political perspective however, a ‘liberal’ approach to sharing and editing information is surely a good thing. By comparison, conservapedia is difficult to sign up to, restricted by rules prescribing ‘conservative’ content, and specifically tailored for a niche political in-group. It is not interested in debate, but spin. In short, conservapedia is Stalinist.
Apparently, wikipedia is also too ‘Anglophile’. Spelling is lambasted (Labour/Labor) as are ‘obscure’ english phenomena such as ‘first class degrees’ or ‘baronets’. The example chosen by the conservapedians is the wiki entry for Henry Liddell.
In summary, the article is bad because it contains English spellings, and obscure English monarchial titles and epithets, such as Lord or degree. Here, for conservapedians is a quick explainer:
1. Baronet and Lord are forms of peership. Holders of these titles sit in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the UK’s Parliament. They are much like your senators, except that God chose their families many centuries ago to rule over us.
2. A degree is a qualification people get when they go to university. Clever Americans get them too. A double first degree is a first class degree – the best you can get.
3. A vice-chancellor of a university is the same as what you may know as the President of a university.
Now I have some complaints of my own. I have some concerns about the wiki entry for Edward Everett – a contemporary of Lidell’s as the President of Harvard University. Frankly his entry is waaaay to Americanophile and contains terms I couldn’t possibly understand like ‘United States Senate’ or ‘Congressman’. The article is full of American political jargon and obscure terms.
Basically, conservapedians are concerned with one thing, ensuring that content of online encyclopedia’s published in America’s name conforms with American nationalism; an American worldview both insular and historically grotesque.
Conservapedia would be a pretty damning indictment of the land of the free if I didnt remind myself that it was Americans that created wikipedia too.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Conservapedia
Nil points to terrorvision
Israel's new 'song for europe' - 'Push the Button'
It's a little known fact that 'Push the Button' by the Sugababes was also inspired by terrorism. If you look at the lyrics you'll see it's actually a Koranic ode to Abu Qatada,
"If you're ready for me boy
You'd better push the button and let me know
Before I get the wrong idea and go
You're gonna miss the freak that I control
I'm busy showing him what he's been missing
I'm kind of showing off for his full attention
My sexy ass has got him in the new dimension
I'm ready to do something to relieve this mission"
I think the Express best summed my feelings up on tuesday, 'Why cant we kick out this evil man.' Although the Sun's 'Ta-ta Qatada' also tickled my fancy. Anyone who inspires lyrics for the Sugababes has no right to be in this country.
On a more serious note, what a crazy misjudgement on Israel's part. Eurovision is as apolitical as Black Forest Gateaux. At least to us Brits I suppose. Personally I'm eagerly awaiting a Wogan take on things.